Carson volleyball eliminated from playoffs

FALLON - The Carson High volleyball team saw its playoff hopes go up in smoke with a 3-1 loss to Fallon on Tuesday at the Greenwave's Elmo Dericco Gym.

Fallon won the first two sets, 25-13 and 26-24. Carson rallied to win the third set, 25-18 but couldn't contain the Greenave in the fourth set as Fallon won, 25-23.

The loss dropped Carson to 4-9 in Sierra League play and ended eliminated the Senators from playoff contention. Carson finishes the season on Thursday against arch rival Douglas at Morse Burley Gym.

Fallon (6-7) put itself in position to clinch the leagues No. 4 playoff spot with a win over last place Wooster on Thursday at the Colts gym.

"Fallon came fired up, being this was their senior night and I hoped we would catch them with over emotion," Senators coach Justin Malley said. "But that wasn't the case. We battled back and were in a position to push it to five sets, but our errors cost us."

After Fallon dominated the first set, the Senators built an 11-7 lead early in the second frame. Kristalei Wolfe's kill and some Fallon errors led to the early lead.

Then it was Carson's turn to commit errors. Three double hits helped Fallon close the gap to 19-18. An attack point by Jeanette VanSickle built Carson's lead back to two at 20-18, but a kill by Kenyah Brown and two Carson errors gave the lead back to Fallon. It was nip-and-tuck from there before Fallon before Fallon went on a 5-2 run to win the set. Four more Carson errors down the stretch, along with Lexy Berney's kill and a dink by Brown helped Fallon win the set.

"Fallon plays a very smooth, consistent game where they don't make a lot of errors," Malley said. "Our errors outweighted theirs."

The third set saw Fallon build a quick 5-2 lead, then Carson rallied to take control. Two kills by Vansickle, one by Tina McAlister-Daggs and one by Elysse Virden, along with two service aces from Makayla Drahos helped erase Fallon's lead and put the Senators up, 17-15. Another Virden kill, an attack point from Vansickle and a set-point dink by McAllister-Daggs won it for Carson.

Angela Augusta scored two kills and Vansickle added two more helped Carson stay close in the fourth set, but Kenyah Brown contributed two service aces and a dink as Fallon built a 13-8 lead. Khailah Brown contributed two kills to the Greenwave's cause. It was close the rest of the way and was tied three times, but two Carson errors provided Fallon with the final two points to win the set and the match.

"The girls seemed to be fired up coming into the match," Malley said. "We've played really good volleyball the last couple of weeks to put ourselves in contention for the playoffs, but we just didn't have it tonight and Fallon took advantage of it."